Embossed material and method of making the same



June 2, 1942. v. H. HURT 2,285,335 EMBOSSED MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 2, 1940 JTTOKMFYS Patented June 2, 1942, l

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EMBOSSED MATERIAL AND METHOD OF G THE SAME Victor H. Hurt, Cranston, R. I., assignor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 2, 1940, Serial N... 327,466

I ficiently to flatten out the embossed projections 2 Claims.

not diiiicult to emboss relatively thick paper or cardboard by molding the same into the desired shape while it is in a wet condition. When, however, the sheet material does not possess suflicient inherent stiffness to remain in the embossed condition a much more difiicult problem ,is presented. 1

It has been proposed heretofore to-impart embossed or puckered properties to a non-elastic material by securing thereto an elastic thread under suiiicient tension to cause the thread to contract and pucker the sheet material when the latter is free from tension. Fabrics and thin sheet leather have had puckered and elastic property imparted thereto heretofore by sewing or otherwise securing elastic thread in a tensioned condition to such non-elastic sheets.

The present invention contemplates an extremely simple, inexpensive and practical method of imparting to fabrics, leather or other highly flexible sheet material puckered or embossed properties, either for the purpose of imparting ornamental properties thereto or to render such non-elastic material elastic.

In accordance with the present invention an embossed or puckered rubber sheet is provided which has sufiicient inherent form-retaining properties to yieldingly impart these properties to a sheet of cloth, leather or the like when a the same is adhesively secured thereto, to thereby transfer the embossed properties of the'rubber sheet accurately to the non-elastic sheet.

As a result of the present invention the rubber sheetmay be provided with projections at one face of any desired configuration and corresponding depressions at its opposite face, and by employing the method of the present invention the contour of these projections irrespective of their shape can be accurately imparted to the nonelastic sheet. r

In carrying out the present invention it is desirable to stretch the embossed rubber sheet sufand then adhesively secure the non-elastic; sheet to the stretched rubber sheet and to its flattened projections, and then allow the rubber sheet to contract and assume its embossed condition, to thereby impart its embossed properties to the non-elastic sheet.

The above and other features of the invention" and method of, carrying out the same will be more fully understood from the'following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates one'good practical embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a plan view of an embossed sheet ofrubber employed in carrying out the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional viewtaken on the line2-2 of Fig. 1; N

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the rubber sheet of Fig. 2 stretched and having a non-elastic sheet adhesively secured thereto;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the plied material of Fig. 3'in its normal relaxed condition; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the plied material of Fig. 4.

The sheet of rubber i0 is shown 'in Fig. l as formed with the spaced cup-like projections H which yieldingly retain their cup-like shape; While these projections are shown as being of circular contour it will be apparent that they may be given various other shapes if desired. The

rubber sheet H3 is preferably formed so that it is of substantially uniform, thickness throughout, as will be apparent from Fig. 2, in order that the main portion of the sheet In and the cup-like projections l will have sufiicient inherent formretaining properties to return to their normal embossed condition when freefrom tension, and impart these embossed propertiesraccurately to a piece of fabric, leather or othersheet material adhesively secured thereto.

In carrying out the present invention the embossed rubber sheet II} is preferably stretched both longitudinally and transversely a substantial amount soas to temporarily flatten out these cup-like projections ll, so that the sheet while stretched will retain the projections II in the fiat or substantially fiat condition indicated at H in Fig. 3. While the rubber sheet is retained in this condition the non-elastic sheet I2 is adhesively secured thereto throughout the entire rubber sheet including the flattened embossed portions thereof. The sheet 12 may be a woven or knitted when the tension upon the rubber sheet I!) is relieved in the plied construction of Fig. 3, this rubber sheet will contract as shown in Fig. 4 and impart it embossed properties to the nonelastic sheet l2 as will be apparent from Figs. 4 and 5.

The contraction of the rubber sheet l condenses the non-elastic sheet l2 throughout to thereby impart elastic properties thereto in addition to yieldingly holding the sheet l2 in the embossed condition.

The sheet I2 is shown in .Fig. 5 as a leather sheet and it will be noted that the contraction of the rubber sheet l9 serves not only to impart to the leather sheet the cup-like projection I 3, but serves also to condense the leather as indicated at [4 upon that portion of the drawing which has been provided with hair-like lines.

It will be understood that the desired embossed projections may be imparted to the rubber sheet Ill, for example, by molding such rubber sheet while it is in a softened condition, then heating, vulcanizing or otherwise treating this rubber sheet to set it in this condition. The rubber sheet, however, should be sufficiently elastic to permit it to be stretched enough to flatten out the projections II as shown in Fig. 3, and then fully regain its embossed shape when the tension is relieved.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that any, desired puckered or embossed properties may be imparted to the non-elastic sheet 12 by first imparting these properties to the rubber sheet ID, and then stretching this sheet as above described and adhesively securing the sheet I2 to this stretched sheet so that when the latter is allowed to contract it will accurately impart its embossed properties to the non-elastic sheet.

The present invention may be employed to impart a substantial range of stretch to a sheet of leather or non-elastic fabric, since the formation of the puckers increases the range of stretch. If it is desired to make the finished product pervious to air, this may be accomplished by making the rubber sheet Ill porous or pervious to air, and by employing an adhesive binder between the sheets I0 and I2 which is perviousv to the air.

Embossed properties could, to a degree, be imparted to a non-elastic sheet by simply employing a rubber sheet having holes punched therein in place of the projections ll shown in Fig. 1,

but this would produce a much less satisfactory embossed result than that secured by the present invention. This is apparent since where the holes occur the non-elastic sheet would not have the shape of each projection accurately controlled as is done by employing the method of the present invention.

Non-elastic sheet material such for example as fabric, or leather may be treated in accordance with the present invention for the sole purpose of making it more ornamental in appearance. Should this be the case and the elastic properties imparted to such sheet not desirable, then such elastic properties may be easily disposed of by adhesively securing a non-elastic sheet (not shown) directly to the exposed face of the contracted rubber sheet II] in the plied construction of Fig. 4, to thereby prevent the plied material Ill and i2 from stretching.

In the foregoing description of the present invention it has been assumed that it is desired to impart the embossed properties of the rubber sheet accurately to the non-elastic sheet. It may, however, in some cases be desirable to impart the embossed properties of the rubber -sheet only partially to the non-elastic sheet. In this case the rubber sheet may be stretched in only one direction while the other sheet is being secured thereto, or the rubber sheet at this time may be stretched only sufficiently to partially flatten out the embossed projections. Also it may be desirable in some cases not to apply the adhesive to all parts of the rubber sheet, but instead to spot on the adhesive so that added crepe or embossed effects will be secured.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An embossed plied material of substantially uniform thickness throughout, comprising an embossed, vulcanized, rubber sheet of substantially the same thickness throughout and provided with projections at one face and corresponding depressions at its opposite face, said sheet being elastic throughout and adapted yieldingly to retain its embossed pattern, and a nonelastic sheet adhered thereto throughout and having the embossed pattern of the rubber sheet imparted accurately thereto.

2. The method of producing embossed plied material in which an elastic and non-elastic sheet are united, which consists in providing a stretchable rubber sheet of substantially uniform thickness throughout and vulcanized to impart thereto an embossed pattern forming pro- 

